Technical Parameters

WAMG transmits from the original facilities of WBIV 1060 (now WBIX) in Ashland. Power is 25 kW
day, 3.4 kW night (different patterns day and night). The night
pattern has a single large lobe running due east from the
transmitter site, and a much smaller lobe running due south; the
pattern protects co-channel WLS and first-adjacent WCBS, among
others. The half-wave towers run in a straight east-west line;
the transmitter is a Harris DX-25. The transmitter site is
located at the end of Sewell Street, off Route 126, between
Ashland Center and Holliston.

WAMG has a construction permit to increase night power to 6 kW,
from the same site.

Station History

The original construction permit for WBMA was granted to Family
Radio in the late '80s, and was last modified on April 7, 1994.
Family didn't have the cash to build, and ended up exchanging the
890 CP with Satellite Radio Network, who at that time operated
WBIV 1060 from the Ashland site shown above. (The original 890
construction permit proposed diplexing on the 1060 towers.) WBIV
was later resold to Alexander Langer, who returned it to the air
as a daytimer from a different site.

WBMA was finally put on the air in early October, 1994, as a
split-time operation with WBIV's daytime programming on 890 (at
2.5 kW ND) and the nighttime programming on 1060, identifying as
“WBMA Dedham, WBIV Natick”. One of the two old 1060
transmitters was retuned to 890 for the new operation; this would
later be replaced with a more modern transmitter by a subsequent
owner. On November 3rd, the facilities were switched over to 890
full-time. The following February, the leased-time ethnic
programming was dumped, and the station began running Liberty's
Prime Sports Radio network; a call change to WBPS (for
“Boston's Prime Sports”, presumably) was applied for
on January 23rd, but the application mistakenly listed WBIV as the
station to be changed. An application for a covering license was
received by the FCC on February 17, 1995. Legal IDs were
“WBMA Dedham-Boston”. In April 1995, a correct
call-letter change was filed, which became effective on or before
June 1st.

(The transfer of WBIV to Family and WBMA to WBIV, Inc. was
consummated on January 20, 1995.)

Despite introducing a local morning-drive talk show with former
Red Sox player Rico Petrocelli and acquiring broadcast rights to
the Boston Blazers soccer team, WBPS was unable to build an
audience, and at the end of Prime Sports' lease with Douglas
Broadcasting in February 1996, sports programming on WBPS came to
an temporary end. Between March and September, a variety of
locally-produced leased-time sports programs were attempted, but
listeners stubbornly refused to appear. With the demise of
leased-time programming on WROR in
October, most of that station's ethnic programmers moved to
WBPS.

In April 1998, WBPS was sold to New England Continental Media,
an affiliate of Salem Communications; in June, Salem cancelled the
purchase. In October of that year, national Spanish-language
chain Mega Communications agreed to purchase WBPS for $4
million.

By late 2001, financial pressures had forced Mega to lease
several of its stations to other operators, and WBPS was among
them. On December 1, WBPS dropped its “Amor 890”
Spanish-language AC format for the satellite-delivered high-tech
talk format of CNet Radio. When CNet Radio ceased operations,
WBPS returned to leased-time programming.

On November 4, 2003, Mega sold Boston's WAMG
1150 to Salem Communications. Just prior to the sale, Mega
swapped callsigns and formats between 1150 and 890, where it
stands as of this writing. Late in 2004, WAMG began once again to
share its transmitter site, with the return of 1060's nighttime operations.

In February of 2005, Mega agreed to exit the Boston market by
selling WAMG to J-Sports Radio, a venture funded by private-equity
firm WallerSutton, for $9 million (including simulcast sister WLLH
Lowell/Lawrence). (WallerSutton also funded Regent Communications
and Route 81 Radio.) The venture is headed by ESPN alum Jessamy
Tang. On July 24, 2005, WAMG and WLLH relaunched as “ESPN
Radio 890/1400”, with the syndicated sports network's
programming augmented by a local talk show hosted by Boston
Herald columnist Mike Felger.

In 2006, WAMG was granted a construction permit to further
increase its night power, to 6 kW.

See Also

This station profile was written by the editors of The Archives @ BostonRadio.org. We have no
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questions about their programming directly to the station.
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